When sheep are examined for foot treatment, veterinary treatment, and the like, they must be inverted onto their backs or rumps and held in that position for the duration of the examination and treatment. Two men can accomplish this task by one man turning a sheep over from a standing position onto its rump with its back resting between and against the handler's legs and knees. Then the second man can examine and treat the sheep while the first man, standing behind the sheep, holds on to its front legs and restrains it from moving about. It is well known that sheep will accept being held in that position without fighting or struggling; and, in fact, it is that position that sheep-shearers invert sheep into before shearing them.
Mechanical devices have been proposed to invert sheep into a suitable position for examination and treatment, but none have been adequate to effect inversion of sheep into a position that is safe for the sheep and safe for the operator of the device. For example, cattle-type squeezes have been down-sized for use with sheep and designed to squeeze a standing sheep to immobility so that the squeeze can be rotated 90 degrees to turn a restrained sheep onto its side for examination and treatment. However, when sheep are squeezed in such a device and then turned onto their sides, they immediately will try to struggle free. Their sides, bearing a thick layer of wool, are not suitably confined by the squeeze and it is relatively easy for them to struggle to the point of injuring themselves. Moreover, squeezes of this type do not work well with horned rams.
Other types of sheep handling devices have been proposed which involve inverting a sheep into a reclining position by tipping the sheep vertically upward and backward over its hind legs onto its back, either flat on its back or to a reclined position where the sheep would be resting on its rump and its back. This type of device is also unsuitable because sheep will struggle as they are being tipped up and backward and begin to lose footing with their hind feet. Also, this type or device requires the expenditure of enormous energy on the part of the handler to lift the sheep upward and force them backward into the device.
Modifications of the just-described device include means attempting to enable a sheep to be lifted upward off its front legs and seated into a basket and then tipped backward, off its hind feet, onto its back to a reclined position within the basket. This modified device, however, still does not eliminate the tendency for sheep to struggle as they begin to lose the footing of their hind feet; and excessive energy is still required on the part of the operator in forcing sheep upward and backward.